


Barflies

by rinabina



Category: Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Cath and Levi, F/M, Fluff, HE IS SO PURE AND GOOD, Levi Fluff, Post-Fangirl, Summer Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-12-29 20:24:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12092745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinabina/pseuds/rinabina
Summary: Levi takes Cath to the local dive in Arnold during one of her visits.  Summertime sweetness with Levi, always.  Quick drabble, oneshot.





	Barflies

**Author's Note:**

> I just shared _Fangirl_ with a friend and got inspired to read again. I forgot the wonders that are Levi, Cath and Rainbow Rowell. Had to get this down on paper, or else I might never recover. Just a quick little interlude and I hope you enjoy!

Levi’s flannel had purple in it tonight.  It was all she could look at.  Purple and green and blue and tiny white stripes.

They were standing outside a bar and she was quietly freaking out.  Because bars were scary.  At least, Cath thought they were.  If she didn’t look at it, maybe it wouldn’t exist, like something in Doctor Who.  All the noise, and smells would just be a trick of her imagination.  She had her cheek pressed against the fleshy part under Levi’s shoulder and he had his arm around her.  She wasn’t looking at the flickering neon sign above the door that said _ ‘Lucky Dave’s.’ _

“You okay?” Levi asked.  She could hear the smile in his voice, even now.

Cath let her head fall back so he could see her face.  His smile widened when she did.  “Yes?” she said.

He raised an eyebrow.  “We can leave…”

“No, let’s go in.  I said I would go.  We’re on a date!”

Levi chewed the corner of his mouth.  “I can take you somewhere nicer.”

“There’s somewhere nicer in Arnold?”

He sounded wounded.  “Like, a restaurant!”

“Take me  _ inside _ ,” Cath said, squeezing him around the middle.

He puffed out a breath, like he was about to take a swan dive, then swung open the door.  “After you.”

Somehow it was darker inside than it was outside.  (Warm, murky?)  A hazy layer of smoke clung to the air and she could taste it on her tongue.  So far, it was the same as every other bar she’s been to.  There were patrons against the wooden bar, betting on machines in the corner and scattered around the tables.  She could hear their raucous laughter and the clinking of bottles and glasses against each other.  No one said anything to them, although, slung around her boyfriend like this, they probably wouldn’t.

Levi was absently watching a flatscreen above the bar.  The colored lights played across his face and she could see the sprinkling of stubble on his chin in the light.  He was quiet tonight; tired, maybe.  Even though she was visiting, he still had to take care of some chores on his family’s ranch.  That, paired with the fact that they’d been up most of the night illicitly sharing her guest room, despite threats of eternal damnation.  

Wren would have wolf whistled if she’d told her that detail.  There was nothing else to tell, though.  Cath and Levi had spent most of the night sitting cross-legged on the mattress, pressed knee to knee talking about everything and anything until eventually Levi had tackled her and they’d fallen into the pillows together.

They made out for about ten minutes before they both started falling asleep.  He’d set an alarm on his phone so he could sneak back into his own bed, then fell asleep with his chin resting against the top of her head.

Kind of like how it was now.  Cath sighed.   _ Kissing Levi _ .

Two months of summer vacation and she’d forgotten how magic he was.

Cath squeezed him again.  “I don’t want a beer,” she said.

He looked down and grinned.  “That’s fine, you can have some of mine if you want some later.”

He waited until they had a clear path to the bar then slid them into a space between two stools.  He ordered a pint from the bartender like it was nothing.  A raised finger and a word she couldn’t make out all the way.  All she knew is that he kept his arm firmly around her, as though he didn’t want to shove her aside, not even for a moment.

Cath stepped into him as he pulled his pint to his lips for a precursory sip.  She pressed her face into the flannel in his chest and heard the rumble of his laughter in her ear.

He kissed her several times, rapid-fire on the top of her head, then nudged her in a backwards direction.  “Come on,” he said, dragging them away from the bar and to the back of the room.  There was a small booth in the corner and they slid into the benches, facing each other across a wobbly table.

“What kind is it?” she asked, pointing to the glass in front of him.  She could see the tracks from his fingers on the condensation of the glass.

“German lager.”

“What, like Heineken?”

Levi shrugged.  “Maybe. A local guy makes it.”

Cath blinked.  “How?”

“I don’t know. He just does.”  Levi was grinning.  Always.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, “I ask stupid questions.”

“Ask me all the questions.”  Levi smiled wilder.  “I love when you ask me questions.”

“Why?”

“Because I love you.”

And when it came down to it, what else could she say to that?

“Do you come here a lot?”

Levi took a long pull from his beer.  “During the summers mostly, after I turned twenty-one.  Town is too small to break the law this noticeably.”

“I bet Reagan would disagree,” Cath said, dragging her finger through a ring left by Levi’s glass on the table.

He laughed.  “Yeah, well.”  He seemed uninterested in talking about Reagan tonight, so he leaned forward, into Cath’s space.  “I’m glad you here,” he said.

“In a bar?”

“In  _ Arnold _ , smartass.”

Cath closed her hand around his forearm and squeezed.  “Me too.”

“I wish you could stay for the rest of the summer.”

She was only staying for a long weekend, and Levi would drive her back to Omaha on Tuesday night.  He’d picked her up yesterday morning and she’d spent the whole drive wondering how life could get any better than a blissful two hour drive with Levi.  Then they’d spent the night together, and now a whole day.  He was right, it didn’t seem long enough.  She’d be back again in a few weeks for his sister’s wedding, and then school would arrive before they knew it.

“You’re still coming to visit before school starts?  To drive us?”

“If Wren doesn’t mind being squeezed in a truck cab.”

“She doesn’t.”

“Then, yes.   _ Absolutely _ .”

So far, they’d existed mostly on phone calls and text messages.  Levi was busy.  When he returned to his family’s ranch, he had to work.  Not just a summer job at the hardware store for a handful of hours a day.  He had to  _ really _ work.  Wake up at four in the morning, feed the cows, vaccinate the calves, and ship the bulls. 

Cath had skipped a summer job this year, and instead looked ahead at getting one in Lincoln.  So far, she had an interview at a bookstore scheduled the day after they arrived on campus.  If it worked out, she’d only be a few doors down from Levi’s Starbucks.

“Hey Little Red,” Levi prodded from across the table, tugging on one of the ties of her sweatshirt.  “What are you thinking about?”

“You. Duh.”

Levi feigned shock, then bashfulness, batting his eyes and covering his mouth.

“Shut up.”

“Cath.”

She was laughing -  _ giggling _ , really.

“ _ Cather _ .”

“What?”

“I want you to live with me this year.”

He’d brought this up before.  The concept both excited and terrified her.  Levi’s lofty attic room was one of her favorite places on Earth, and Levi was her favorite person on Earth.  It had all the makings of greatness, if you didn’t take into account reality and, you know,  _ life _ .

Real people didn’t move in together after only a few months of dating, did they?

“Levi,” she said warily.  “We’ve talked about this.”

He set his beer down again.  There was foam residue on the inside of the glass, marking each of his sips.

“I want to talk about it more.”

“What is there to say?”

“Think how great it will be!”

His enthusiasm was contagious.  “Of course it would be great.   _ You’d _ be there, and you are great.”  Cath tilted her head to one side. “You know I’ll still be over most of the time anyway.”

“That’s not the  _ same _ .”

“Levi.”

“Cather.”

He took her hands and laced their fingers over the table.  His almost-empty glass was centered between their elbows.  “I get it. I do.  It’s probably wise for you to have your own space to be alone and to hold most of your stuff.  I know your dad already paid for the dorm.  But if not this year, will you think about next year?  There’s no way I can graduate this year.  I’ll have to stick around for at least one more semester.”

Something griped the back of Cath’s throat.  Disbelief, fear, and again,  _ maybe _ a little hope and excitement. “You...want to talk about next year?”

He shook his head like she was being silly.   “I want to talk about forever.  But for now, let’s talk about next year.  Or this year, even.”

She sucked in a shaky breath and eyed the beer glass.  _ Forever _ .  That required more courage than she had right now.  “Can I have some?”

Levi’s smile was all the consent she needed, and she took a sip of the ‘German lager.’  It was room temperature now, but smooth and not skunky. Not even a little.

The glass hit the table harder than she intended.

“Drunk already? Jesus,” Levi teased.

Cath plowed ahead.  “What about this year?”

Levi slid his hands up her arms to her elbows and gripped them, as though he could pull her straight through the table and into his lap.  “Leave stuff at my house.  Enough stuff.  A toothbrush and half your clothes.  Your shampoo in my shower-”

“But I like  _ your _ shampoo.”

He smiled, undeterred.  “Your  _ deodorant _ in my medicine cabinet, then.  Tampons under the sink.”  She wrinkled her nose.  “Cath.   _ Cather _ .  I want you in my life, all around me, all the time.”

Could girls explode because boys were too sweet?  She felt like she could.  Burst like a firework into the night.  She’d write words in the sky that read, _ ‘How does anyone deserve you?’ _

“Are you real?” she asked, instead.

“I’m being serious.”

“So am I.”  She inhaled carefully, as to not trigger the explosion.  “Levi…”

“What is it?  Are you still scared?”

She was.  Of course she was.  She was scared of everything, and now she was scared of fucking this up.

“Won’t you get s-”

“If you say ‘sick of me’ right now, I’m leaving the bar.”  

Cath sighed in annoyance and finished his beer.  Levi smiled appreciatively.  He released her elbows and lifted one of her hands to his lips.  It was all he could reach at the moment.

“I will  _ never  _ get sick of you.”  Her knuckles were pressed to his chin, and she felt his breaths on the top of her fingers.  “I don’t want to be in one of those relationships where one of us thinks we love the other one more.  That’s crap.  I hate that.”

Cath nodded.  She didn’t want that either.  It  _ was _ crap.

“We love each other the same.”

Another nod.

“And if you had a house - for argument’s sake, let’s say you had a house.”

“Okay.”

“If you had a house, and we were... _ us _ , wouldn’t you want my stuff around?”

“Yes.”  There was no hesitation. “All over. I’d use it like potpourri.”

Levi shook his head and ignored the urge to laugh.  “Wouldn’t you want  _ me _ around?”

“Constantly.  But not as potpourri.  Furniture, maybe.”

“Cath…”

“Yes!  All of that.  I’d want you there, and all of your stuff.”

He spread his hands - and her hand, by association - as though he’d just rested his case.  

“Will you buy me a beer?”

Levi was now resting his head on her hand, smiling doe-eyed at her.  “You’re unbelievable.”

“We’re doing this, here at a bar.  You and me.  Talking about our future, on a date.  I’m really enjoying it.  And I want to have a beer with you.”

“If you promise to think about this year, and next year, I will.”

“I promise.”

“You’re just saying that to get me to buy you-”

“Levi! I promise!  I’ll give you my travel toiletries as collateral when I leave.  You can scatter them all over your house when we get back to school.”

He looked  _ delighted  _ at the suggestion, but then he asked, “What do you want?”

Cath panicked.  “I just told you. I’ll bring the rest of my stuff-”

“To  _ drink _ , babe.”

“Oh.” She snorted and let her head fall into her arms.  “What you had.”

Before he left, he swooped down and kissed her soundly on the lips.  His hand slid around the back of her head and he watched her as he pulled away.  It was grounding.  Permanent.  Levi here, cradling her like she was the most precious thing.  “Don’t go anywhere,” he said as he released her, then moseyed to the bar.

He moseyed, because he was Levi.  Because he did everything casually, except maybe love someone.  He was all legs and arms and knobby knees.  His left shoe was untied and she resisted the urge to run over and tie it for him. Just because she knew he’d do it, if it was her shoe.

“I won’t,” she said to the back of his head.  And she wouldn’t, not ever.

  
  



End file.
